This invention relates to resilient roller skate wheels and a method of making them.
In the past, such wheels have been made in a multi-step process of molding the plastic wheel, then, after the plastic has solidified and the wheel is demolded, inserting ball bearings into pre-formed recesses in both faces of the wheel. (The bearings are sized to slip in and out of the recesses relatively easily.) The resulting assembly is then mounted on an axle that is passed through the bearing. The substantial lateral force that is a normal component of the forces acting on such wheels during use tends to push the bearings outwardly on the axle. This lateral force is resisted by nuts threaded onto the ends of the axles, but the nuts are known to loosen over time, permitting the bearings to slip out of the wheel recesses thereby causing at least great inconvenience and perhaps damage to the skate, and sometimes even injury to the skater.